Rachel, Lucia and Phillip had snuck into the broom stores and had enchanted Atticus' Emerald Green broom with the Curreus Potion. Hundreds gathered in the stands to witness one of the last matches of the season, ready for an unpredictable showdown.
"Hufflepuff vs Slytherin" announced the commentator. The stands of red, green, blue and gold were bustling with crowds watching expectantly.
"Rachel, I don't think this is a good idea anymore. There's so many people and there's a kid with a broken arm playing, I don't know why they've let him. Say something went properly wrong, someone was really hurt, we would be responsible."
"Connie, you're overreacting, worse that happens is the broom goes to fast and Atticus looks like an idiot. Besides, anything we do now will be easily traced back to us." Connie turned to me pleadingly:
"Albus is meant to be playing, I know you aren't on good terms but you wouldn't want him to get hurt- would you?" I told her Albus was a Sub and I wouldn't care regardless, which was a lie. Rachel went to hug her goodbye and good luck but she softly brushed her off and headed the arena.
The match began smoothly and each team was playing cleanly. Albus' friend Samirahw as an incredible chaser and hurled the quaffle through the hoops elegantly, while Roy's bat struck bludgers and sent them hurtling towards the Hufflepuffs, even the boy with the broken arm was an agile keeper, flicking quaffles away with his broom. The team was working like a well-oiled machine and Hufflepuff had a run for their money. Their only chance was their seeker: Connie. Unfortunately, the Slytherin seeker was Atticus. They chased the spark of gold across the stadium, round and round, and while Connie was clearly the better player, the enchantment on Atticus's broom began to kick in and he was always ahead. It seemed like a Slytherin win was inevitable until Atticus took a bludger to the arm. He was fine but instead of carrying on, he took it as a chance to accost the Hufflepuff beater mid-air, yank his bat from his hand and proceed to knock him forcefully off his broom, onto the ground below. He was sent off.
"Potter, it seems you're on now." snarled Atticus. Albus told him he'd forgotten my broom.
"What kind of idiot doesn't bri- fuck it, use mine," He handed him his valuable ebony and emerald broom then walked away and Atticus had finally did something nice.
And then I saw it, Albus coming on as seeker, with- Atticus' enchanted broom- shit. Not only was he playing seeker, which I knew would be his worst nightmare, but he was playing against Connie and with a hexed broom. Immediately after he flew on, people were realising something was wrong. He was going fast, too fast, faster than anyone had seen anyone else fly before, whizzing around the stadium, dodging every bludger with unnatural ease. People continued to cheer but I could see his face, a scared grimace covering it. I turned to Rachel to tell her we had to stop but before anything was said, raucous cheers spread throughout the stand- he'd caught the snitch.
Both teams went to land and the game was over. But Albus was still midair, round and round, dizzying the onlookers. I began to hear some disappointed yells: 'He's enchanted his broom and lost control', 'Potter's used an illegal charm', and 'What is he doing, has he gone crazy?'. And then, in a few terrible seconds, it went from bad to worse. In a desperate attempt to slow down, Albus forced his broom into a forceful nosedive, poised to hit the ground at the terminal velocity. Connie knew what was happening and yelled: "Albus, pull up when you're low enough and I'll try to pull you off." No one considered the validity of this idea, they just watched in horror as Albus sailed towards the ground. But he pulled up a second too late and Connie only managed to pull him off before being forced to the ground by the force of him and the broom.
Rachel screamed and legged it down to the pitch, and I followed, where she clasped an unconscious Connie. Albus was dazed and distressed and kept apologising to Connie. Then he saw me and ran to hug me, pulling his grazed and slightly bloodied face onto my shoulder.
No one knew what happened but he let go of me and was escorted away by the teachers and I didn't see him again.
"You're supposed to be a Gryffindor? To be brave, courageous and honest in the face of adversity, especially if it's your fault? Lucia...Phillip? Come on, Albus will be expelled for this. What we did was irresponsible and dangerous, the least we could do is take responsibility as a whole. They won't expel us if we explain why we did it." Rachel walked up to me, clearly anxious for Connie's sake more than anything. She was acting out of anger, fear, heartbreak.
"Or we all get expelled: you, me, Connie, Lucia, Phillip? I may have lost Connie now, the girl who could've been the love of my life. I mean she could've been, if I hadn't acted with so much pent up rage, maybe the same rage that will stop you ever having Albus back."
"This isn't about me getting 'Albus back' anymore, this is about preventing an innocent boy losing his education at the expense of a stupidly-planned prank."
"Scorpius, Albus is a Potter. He will not get in trouble, he'll get a slap on the wrist and be sent on his way. This whole thing will blow over and everyone will forget what happened, Connie will and so will he."
It didn't 'blow over'. The winds of rumours kept blowing, round and round, from a gale to a hurricane. Witnesses warped the story, telling people Albus had deliberately rammed Connie off her broom, that 'Potter had finally lost it', that people saw him enchant his broom before the match. But not a breath from Albus, who was nowhere to be seen. It was a couple of days later with no sign of him. I checked on Connie in the infirmary, of whom insisted she was completely fine but wasn't speaking to Rachel. She was still wearing her yellow quidditch jumper, the one I'd seen her lend to Rachel time after time. I surveyed the halls for any sign of his soft brown eyes or hatched up plans to pin the blame on someone else than Albus. I begged and pleaded for my friends to come forward and own up before something awful happened but they were yet to yield.
The final straw came when I, at last, saw Albus walking past my classroom. But something was wrong, he was dressed in a grey jumper and brown corduroy trousers, carrying a small suitcase. No school uniform meant he was going home, away, never to return to Hogwarts, never to smile eagerly across the table when dinner arrived in the Great Hall. My stomach turned in on itself in inexorable guilt. I abruptly stood up, requested to be excused, and promptly headed to McGonagall's Head Office.
Rachel, quick as the Ravenclaw she was, realised what was happening. She stood up as well, one again asking to leave. But the teacher, suspicious, did not allow it and she was forced to sit down. Would she try and stop me? I wasn't going to turn the rest in too, but this school had ways of tracking down perpetrators one by one. It was around three minutes to break so I began jogging, winding the corners of the stone-walled passages. Quicker, I thought, there is no time to waste, I must...
Smash! My limbs were soon entangled with another's, having forced them to the ground with the momentum of my jog. And it was, somehow, exactly who I expected.
"What, wait, what are you doing, Scorpius?" I lurched up, still making eye-contact with him. I did not look away, I couldn't allow myself.
"Albus, I am so sorry. I was responsible for your broom going insane. That was me, all my fault, I do not expect any forgiveness, none, whatsoever. But I'm here, right now," I gasped for air, "to make this all right again."
"I know. I know you were responsible, you and your friends at least," he spoke calmly, each word held so much weight. "I actually had seen Lucia check the potions book out of the library, the records still show it. In fact, she still has the book, and I saw Phillip was still carrying the potion when he saw me before the match."
"And you- you told the teachers that?"
"No. I got rid of the records and told them I did it," He shook his head slowly, facing down. Initially, I breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief came at his expense. He did not say anything more, he just carefully step forward and clasped his arms around me. He buried his head in my shoulder, and I heard a faint sniffling. Before I could say anything, he withdrew and turned to walk away.
"Oh, you bastard, you're not leaving now. Not after I put up with you all this time, I don't care if they try to expel you, you're not leaving now." My eyes may have welled up slightly but I didn't care. I caught a flicker of what could've been hope in his eyes.
Students began to filter out of classrooms, signalling break. I nodded at Albus. He shook his head- don't do this, I have taken the fall, leave me now. Too late! I was once again sprinting down the halls, dodging ever-shrinking first-years and hurled through into McGonagall's office.
"I am responsible for the broom jinxing. It was all me, I am incredibly sorry and accept my imminent expulsion. Albus had nothing to do with anything." For some reason, I sat down in the chair opposite her. By sitting, somehow, it asserted I was telling the truth. Suddenly, the door swung open again. I turned, expecting to see a grey jumper, but instead, I saw two red ties and a blue one at the front. She smirked at me.
"Headmaster McGonagall, I think you'll find it was all of us that were responsible for the broom nonsense. I know the damage I've caused, believe me, and I am here to accept my punishment, even if that's expulsion." There was a gleam of pride in her eyes, and then I spotted it. Hanging out of her satchel was the bright yellow jumper, belonging to Connie. She must have given it to her.
Lucia clutched Phillip, their fingers now intertwined. "As are we. We never meant any genuine harm." The door swung open again, this time a girl is slightly supported by a boy in a grey jumper.
"Headmaster McGonagall, my leg is healing fine and I guess I'm kinda the cause for the damage done- um, to myself." Albus had gone to get Connie, to tell her what I had done. She was without her yellow jumper and now Rachel tightly clasped her hand as they both earnestly gazed at McGonagall, of whom was yet to speak.
"It seems the damage has been limited. Since she is recovering and you all have claimed responsibility, I think expulsion may be on the severe side." We all breathed a sigh of relief.
"But I'm not like Dumbledore, I am not going to let you get off scot-free and give you fifty house points each because you're Gryffindors and did something 'brave'. You'll have to, I don't know, re-order the books in the library. Albus, since you're not guilty of anything besides lying, you can help your friends and some house points will be available. You're all dismissed." I knew the books in the library re-ordered themselves but I was happy to be spending time with my Albus again. Maybe everything would go back to normal?
It didn't, it looked like it had got worse. Even after he'd risked expulsion for me, for some reason, oh my goodness, I don't know why, but he was still following Atticus around.
"Hello Scorpio, fancy seeing you here. Seems that stupid escapade with my broom may have been of your creation. Whoever your intended victim was, seems you failed rather miserably." I was sorting out some books during lunch when Atticus approached me.
"What would your mother think? Oh, no, now I remember!" My blood boiled and I realised the malicious smirk on his face could easily be wiped off with a flick of my wrist. But I didn't offer a rebuttal because I was speechless. There was Albus, still flanking him like an obedient dog, and he did nothing. As they walked away, he mouthed some words to me: Trust me.
"Why should I trust you, I can't? You just can't stand up to him- you're like his pet or something. I'm so sorry I have to say this but what you're doing would make your father disappointed- he would dislike this person you've become." Why doesn't he get angry? He should shout at me or him or both of us. He isn't even frowning and almost condescendingly says:
"You know, I know, we both know it's not that simple. The thing that is happening between us can't be resolved just yet, I've still got to do things."
"What is it? What is this secret thing happening between us, there's nothing happening? Actually, you know what your secret is, it's that you're a wimp. You're a coward that does 'brave' and 'honourable' things but when I need you to be 'courageous' you never are." At this point, I was flailing my arms and making a bit of a scene. Albus stepped towards me and lightly grabbed my wrists, pulling them down. Our faces were a couple of inches apart and he was gazing directly at me. He spoke:
"There's a kid on my quidditch team who's really quite good." WHAT? What was he going on about?
"In fact, he's so good that they let him play with a broken arm, so good he could've been Slytherin captain. But he 'mysteriously' broke his arm and it won't heal so Atticus has to stay captain." Oh, no, I'm beginning to understand.
"The boy told me all he remembered is he may have seen a tall figure in his bedroom and that they left dropped their glasses, which he still hasn't taken from his bedroom. Coincidentally, Atticus has just lost his glasses, along with checking out a copy of this book," He pulled a dishevelled leather-bound book from his bag and opened it to a page with the Latin words 'Fractus confractus': a dangerous spell that breaks bones and prevents even magical healing.
"Albus, you're a genius, I could kiss you! Finally, Atticus can get what's coming to him. Have you told McGonagall about this?"
"No," he said, blushing and pulling out a muggle mobile phone, "I needed a tiny bit more evidence for my case, he's been kind of bragging about it. I wanted to record him saying it, and I got the confession, that's why I've been following him around recently." He looked away then back again.
"Scorp, I'm sorry, by the way."